Pneumatic power-boat.



WITNESS G. W. CHRISTOPH.

PNEUMATIC POWER BOATr APPLICATION FILED 001216. 1916.

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G. W. CHRISTOPH. PNEUMATIC POWER BOAT. APPLICATION FILED ()CT. 16. I916.

Patented May14,1918.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. CHRISTOPH, OF WAREHOUSE POINT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR T0STERLING BLOWER COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OFCONNECTICUT.

PNEUMATIC POWER-BOAT.

To allcbhom'z't mayconcemk 1.

Be it known that I, GEORGE WV. Cianrs'rorri, a citizen .ofthe UnitedStates of America, residing at'Warehouse Point, in thecounty 5of-Hartfordand State of Connecticut, have invented certain-new anduseful=Improvej'ments in Pneumatic Power-Boats, ofwhich the followingis" a'specification.

' This inventionrelates to improvements in pneumaticpropelling andsteering means for power boats or other vessels.

Pneumatic propulsion of boats has been accomplished, heretofore, invarious ways.

. There are marked advantages in propelling boats pneumatically'once asatisfactory arrangement of they propelling means is found, and thisinvention is concerned particularly with an eflicient and advantageousstructural arrangement forpneumatically propelling a boat, whicharrangement is suitable for practical use.

' The 'broadobject of the invention is to provide an eflicient. andusable pneumatically propelled boat characterized by eliminating thoseoperable parts of a boat which normally churn the water and thus disturbI the passage of the boat therethrough.

'An object of the'invention is to provide a pneumatically propelled boathavingat the an air discharge, both intake and discharge being arrangedabovethe gunwales of the boat, a conduit connecting the intake anddischarge, vand a power driven fan inter-' posed in the conduit/andarranged below the gunwales.

Another object of the invention is to provide a boat, pneumaticallypropellable as described, together with pneumatic steeringmeansinvolving a rotatable arrangement of the air intake or discharge orboth, the construction being characterized by the elimination of allparts extending into the water whereby the latter is undisturbed exceptby the passage of the boat.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the description to followand will'be pointed out in the .annexed claims.

The inventlon, in an illustrative embodl- Specification of LettersPatent.

7 member; and p F 1g. 9 1s a sectional plan View taken on the boat areindicated bow thereof an a1r intake and at the stern Patented May 14,1918'.

Application filed October 16, 1916. Serial No. 125,869.

tion thereof;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of Fig. 1;

Figs. land 5 are longitudinal and transverse sections of the preferredform of fan I Fig. 6 is a diagrammatical plan iew illustrative of thesteeringmechanism;

Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of F ig. 6; v

Fig. 8 is an elevational view with parts in section of the revolubleintake or discharge line 99 of Fig. 8. p Referring to these drawings. indetail, a

representsthe boat or vessel to bepropelled which may, 'of course, be ofany desired form. The type of boat shown for illusltrative purposes, amodern speed boat, is,

however, a desirable one toemploy on ac- .count of low resistancepresented to the water. Thewater line and gunwales of the bv referencesc,re-

spectively.

An engine of any suitable type, such an explosive engine, forexam'ple,is shown 1n conventional form at 10. Engine 10 is directlyconnected to a fan 11 indicated in conventional form in Figs; Q'and 3. VThe particular type of fan, which I have foundby experiment to be bestsuited for the purpose, is what is known in the trade as an exhaust fanand one practlcal and efficient type of such a fan is shown in Figs. 4and 5.

Fan blades 12, of the shape best shown in Fig. 5, are mounted directlyupon the crank shaft 13 of engine 10, which shaft extends in overhangingrelation into the fan casing 11, as shown. A central axially arrangedinlet 1 L and a peripheral outlet 15 are formed in the casing 11, asclearly shown in Fig. 4. 'The shape of blades 12 and that of theginterior compartment 16 within which vertical support.

they rotate, as shown in Figs. 4-. and 5, is that at presentpreferrcdand at present known to be eliicient for the purpose.

A conduit 17 extends from inlet 1 1 forwardly to the bow of the boat andis con nected to an intake member 18 which extends vertica ly throughthe deck of the boat and. has a horizontally bent end as shown inFig. 1. Member 18 is sleeved upon the upturned end of conduit 17, asshown in Figs. 8 and 9, and is rotatably supported thereon by anysuitable means. For example, a rod 19 fixed to member 18 may berotatably mounted in a pair of spiders 20 fixed to conduit 17, and acollar 21 may be fixed to the rod to engage the upper spider to providea From the outlet 15, a conduit 23 extends rearwardly closely adjacentone side of the boat to the stern thereof and upon the upturned end ofthe conduit is a discharge member 2st identical in construction with themember 18 as just described.

Fixed by any suitable means to the mem bers 18 and 24 arerdrums 25 and26 which are adapted to be turned by the steering devices. The latterwill be best understood by reference to the diagrammatical showing inFig. 6. A cord27 is wrapped around drum 25 and fastened thereto at 28.One end of this cord extends rearwardly to and is wrapped around a.steering drum 29 and fastened thereto at 30 (Fig. 7 From drums 29 and 25the ends of the cord are brought to and around drum 26 and fastenedtogether at 31. Cord 27 may be mounted and supported in any of the wellknown ways, such as by pulleys 32 and eyelets 33 '(Figs. 2 and 3). Themanner of wrapping the cord about drums 25, 26, and 29 is clearlyindicated in Fig. 6 and the arrangement is such that by turning drum 29members 18 and 2% are turned in opposite directions. Thus, if drum 29 isturned in the direction of the arrow (Fig. 6), member 18 will be turnedin a counter-clockwise and member 24 in a clockwise direction. Theparticular means described for turning members 18 and 2e has been chosenmerely as an illustrative embodiment of one operable means and obviouslyother suitable means may be used as desired to accomplish the samefunction.

In operation, air is drawn in through member 18 which, it is to benoted, extends above the gunwales c and above the highest point of thebow of the boat. Blades 12 revolving at high speed within casing 1.1draw in the air through conduit 17 and expel it through conduit 23 anddischarge member 24; which also extends above gunwales 0. Thus, aforward impetus is obtained by both the intake and discharge of the airto propel the boat forward. When members 18 and 2% are set in line asshown by full lines in Fig. 3, the boat is propelled straight ahead. butby turning drum 29 members 18 and 24 may be swung in unison towardeither side of the boat to change its direction. For example, whenmembers 18 and 2e are swung to the position shown by dotted lines inFig. 3, the boat will be turned to the right. The intake 18 and.discharge 2l may moreover be turned through one hundred and eightydegrees from the full line position shown in Fig. 3, so that they faceone another, and boat (4 will then be moved backward in a straight line.

The arrangement of parts as described permits the use of a compact powerplant and, what is more important, the power plant may be arranged atthe desired position within the boat. It may be moved well forward ofthe boat as shown without difiiculty for the long rapidly revolvingshaft ordinarily necessary is here eliminated. Moreover, the fan andengine may be located well down in the boat close to its keel incontra-distinction to the earlier types of pneumatically driven boatswherein the fan or I propeller had to be exposed to the air and thusmounted above the gunwales, thereby decreasing the stability of theboat.

The invention, as disclosed, is particularly characterized by theabsence of propelling and steering means which extend into the water,and the latter is undisturbed except by the passage of the boat. Thisfeature is an important one, particularly when speedy boats are wanted,for it eliminates the churning of and undesirable eddies in the waterabout the boat. With the, present construction, the only resistanceencountered is due to the boats passage through the water.

The invention has been described in a preferred form for illustrativepurposes, but the scope of. the invention is defined by the appendedclaims rather than by the foregoing description.

lVhat I claim is 1.. The combination in a pneumatically propelled boatof an air conduit extending from the bow to the stern and arranged belowthe gunwales of the boat, an exhaust fan interposed in said conduit,means to drive the fan, and intake and discharge members connected tothe forward and rear ends of said conduit and extending, respectively,above the gunwales of the boat at the bow and stern thereof.

2. A pneumatically propelled boat having 2 an air intake member at thebow thereof arrange-d above the gunwales of the boat, an air dischargemember at the stern of the boat likewise arranged above the gunwalesthereof, a power driven exhaust fan arranged intermediate said membersand below the gunwales of the boat, a conduit connecting said intake anddischarge members to the inlet and outlet passages of said fan,

one of said members being pivoted to turn on a vertical axis, and meansto turn said pivotally mounted member whereby the boat may be steered.

3. A pneumatically propelled boat having a power driven exhaust fanlocated substantially below the gunwales of the boat, intake anddischarge conduits extending from the fan and below the gunwales of theboat to the bow and stern, respectively, intake and 10 discharge memberspivotally connected to the bow and stern ends, respectively, of saidconduits to turn on a vertical axis and extending above the gunwales ofthe boat, and means to turn said members in unison to- 15 ward the sameside of the boat whereby the latter may be steered.

GEORGE W. CHRISTOPH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

